Because these search engines don’t search exactly the same sites it’s important to compare the results when they do. This is a better way to understand their performance.
Listing Site
UsedBookSearch
Bookfinder
AddAll
WFA
JGJ
PAP
WFA
JGJ
PAP
WFA
JGJ
PAP
Alibris
171
3
3
16
3
2
89
3
2
ABE
262
6
7
15
6
6
100
6
7
Biblion
6
1
1
6
1
1
6
1
1
Total
439
10
11
37
10
9
195
10
10
If you are looking for an inexpensive book hundreds of matches may be irrelevant. On the other hand valuable books are rarely available in large quantities and each search engine does a similarly effective job when the book is rare. With rare books the principal difference is in the sites they search, not the completeness of the searches and no one searches every site.
Both AddAll and UsedBookSearch provide 3 fields to do general searches on their primary screen: Author, Title and Keyword while BookFinder provides the same choices in its advanced search. Bookfinder also provides a “Classic Search Screen” option in its advance search that is a single continuous presentation of search results – a better choice than opening many files. In every case with each search engine, if you find an interesting copy you can go into the listing site and conduct the same search again to confirm a copy’s relative merit.
All the search engines are heavily dependent on ABE because they have something like 50% of all book listings in the world. All the other sites have an unduplicated additional 50%+ divided into a patchwork quilt of listings. Because many of the businesses and individuals who list do so on more than one site (some more than 5) the searches engines find a great many matches that are actually duplicates. To test this we evaluated all the results found when searching for “Life and Confessions of James Gilbert Jenkins: The Murderer of Eighteen Men (searched simply as “James Gilbert Jenkins”), Napa, 1864. Of the 7 copies found Abe had 6. Given that the total matches of the three search engines was 61, ABE look looks very concise and efficient. It is also the fastest.
The sites charge different fees and structure their sales in different ways and you can see this using search engines. Sites such as Alibris, Chapters.Indigo, and BiblioQuest sell the book themselves and pay the bookseller a percentage but most sites simply list the book, receive a listing fee and an occasional transaction fee. As well, sometimes the same book from the same dealer is offered for different prices on different sites. Without looking very hard you will see that there are price differences. With search engines we are still in the “wild west” stage.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
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Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Francesco Colonna. Hypnerotomachie, Paris, 1546, Parisian calf by Wotton Binder C for Marcus Fugger. €200,000 to €300,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Nausea. De principiis dialectices Gorgias, and other works, Venice, 1523, morocco gilt for Cardinal Campeggio. €3,000 to €4,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Billon. Le fort inexpugnable de l'honneur, Paris, 1555, Parisian calf gilt for Peter Ernst, Graf von Mansfeld. €120,000 to €180,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Salinger, J.D. The Graham Family archive, including autographed letters, an inscribed Catcher, a rare studio photograph of the author, and more. $120,000 to $180,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of Sense and Sensibility, the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Massachusetts General Court. A powerful precursor to the Declaration of Independence: "every Act of Government … without the Consent of the People, is … Tyranny." $40,000 to $60,000.
![<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/9a74d9ff-42dd-46a1-8bb2-b636c4cec796.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.")
